


I Guess You're Not So Bad

by hamilcries



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, POV Alternating, but its still 3rd person, dont worry, lmao im not reliable with updates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-11
Updated: 2016-07-06
Packaged: 2018-06-01 17:26:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6529276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hamilcries/pseuds/hamilcries
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Philip Hamilton and Theodosia Burr have hated each other ever since they can remember. They've always avoided each other in and out of school.</p><p>Then, Philip and his posse happen to be in the same history class as Theo. To make matters worse, they are moved next to each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Theodosia could not have had a worse first day of school.

Senior year was supposed to be fun! Road trips, senior privileges, maybe a less clingy boyfriend, and her graduation party. Her last year of high school before going off to see the world, or going to college, or just moving away from home. She only had to spend a few more months in this hell hole before she would be whisked away by her gorgeous Prince Charming and finally get to see Paris. 

Unfortunately, the universe had other plans. 

Theo had started a list titled “Why Senior Year Sucks Already” and had kept it in her back pocket since first period. So far, the list consisted of 4 major points:

_1\. I have Mr. Adams for an extra 40 minutes every other day_  
_2\. Martha is in only one of my classes but none of my lunch blocks_  
_3\. WHY DID I AGREE TO TAKE HONORS ENGLISH_  
and  
_4\. Joe is still obsessed with me, and he is not my Prince Charming_

She was absolutely positive that there would be at least five more before the end of the day. It was only third period. Theo looked down at her schedule to see what class she had next. History. Thank God, finally a class she liked. Hopefully the teacher would be better than Adams and there wouldn’t be anyone terrible in her class. Last year, she had to suffer through a year with William Mulligan, who would use his phone during class and yell out inappropriate jokes. That was torture. The year before, she had Ellie Laurens _and_ Georges Lafayette in her class, which was double the torture. 

The ringing of the bell pulled her out of her head and back to reality. She shoved her books into her bag and swung it over her shoulder, not wanting to get caught in the swarm of students crowding the door. Once out of the classroom, they could spread out and find friends. Theo tried to stay relatively small so she wouldn’t cause any problems, but at least one person always pushed by her to catch up with someone else. 

Theo got to her class before the bell rang, and the room was already pretty full. This was good, as the problem kids normally got to class right before the bell, or right after, insisting they weren’t late. She scanned the classroom, looking for someone she knew. Her eyes stopped on Martha Jefferson, her best friend. Martha motioned for Theo to sit next to her. “Hey.” Theo said softly.

“Hey! Oh my god! This class is gonna be so much fun now that you’re here! I barely know anyone. There’s a couple more kids coming, but I don’t know who they are yet. I think they’re all guys, but I’m not sure. I’m hoping that at least one of them is hot.” Martha beamed. Theo sighed. As much as she loved Martha, she talked too much and was extremely energetic.  
“Well,” Theo replied. “Let’s hope none of the boys are from the self-proclaimed ‘Hamilsquad 2.0’.” 

Martha frowned and crossed her arms. “That could work. They’re all hot. Well, except for Ellie, but she’s pretty nice looking. Why do you say that?” She questioned.

Theo turned away from Martha and pulled out a notebook. “Let’s just say that I’ve had my fair share of that group of guys.” She replied. Martha shrugged and got her phone out. 

A minute later, the bell rang and a fairly old woman walked to the front of the room. Clapping her hands once, she looked around the room to make sure she had everyone’s attention. “Hello class! My name is Mrs. Washington, but you can call me Mrs. W, or Martha. I’m going to take attendance, so just say ‘here’ when I call your name.”

Theo was one of the first names, so after she said ‘here’, she didn’t have to pay attention to the other names. She spaced until she heard a name she recognized. 

“Philip Hamilton? Philip? Not here?” 

Her eyes went wide. _No. He cannot be in this class. No way._

Someone from the side of the class answered. “No ma’am. He probably got into another fight.”

Mrs. Washington just made a tsk sound. “Oh, my husband told me about him. Just like his father was at his age. A damn shame, if you ask me.” A wave of soft laughter washed over the class.

Theo didn’t laugh. She felt like crying. This would make her entire senior year go down the drain. _Well,_ she thought, _at least it can’t get any worse._

It got worse.

“Georges de Lafayette?” “Here.”

“Frances Laurens?” “I go by Ellie.” 

“William Mulligan? No William?” “He’s probably with Philip. They’ll be late.”

Sure enough, there was a knock at the door. Washington, the principal, followed by both Philip and Will, walked into the room. The two boys sat down with Ellie and Georges, and there was a lot of talking from that side of the room while Mr. Washington spoke with his wife. From what Theo overheard, Philip had called someone out in the halls and the conflict had escalated. When fists started flying, someone ran to Washington, and soon enough he had broken up the fight. He didn’t get there before there was blood and a black eye, though.

Theo was utterly shocked. Not about the fight, that was normal. About the direction her day had gone. Of course. All of the recognized members of the ‘Hamilsquad 2.0’ had to be in this particular history class.

By the time Theo got home, her list had become a rant about Philip Hamilton.

This was going to be a rough year.


	2. Chapter 2

“Okay class, seeing as we’ve been in school for a month now, I thought it would be nice to switch up the seating.” Mrs. Washington said. There was a collective groan, and Philip, Ellie, Georges, and Will practically got down on their knees, begging for her not to split them up.

There was no amount of begging that could ever change Martha Washington’s mind about anything. Not even from her husband, and he had tried. As she read off names and pointed to seats, there were several pleading looks and “please, no”s, but she had made her decision. Theo never had a problem with changing seats before, but when Mrs. Washington put Philip Hamilton next to her, there was a class-wide gasp of disbelief. 

Theo quietly walked to her seat and sat down, but Philip was outraged. “Excuse me, Mrs. Washington? With all due respect, ma’am, I don’t think this seating arrangement is going to work. At all. We,” he said, gesturing to himself and Theo, “do not get along. Never have, never will.” He was standing at the back of the classroom, fully prepared to walk out of the classroom. Hamiltons and Burrs don’t get along. This was a _very_ well known fact. Anyone who took a quick glance at either of their twitters would know this. Both were filled with subtweets and passive aggressive replies. 

Mrs. Washington just smiled. “Mr. Hamilton, I realize your father and Miss Burr’s haven’t had the best past, but you are not your father. At least, let’s hope not. And never is a strong word. So, I suggest you take your seat.” She said, still smiling. There was a collective ‘ooooh’ from behind Philip. He looked to Will for support, but Will could only shrug. _Sorry man,_ he mouthed from his seat. Will got lucky. He got to sit next to Ellie.

There was nothing Philip could do now except take his seat. Theo smiled, glad that _someone_ could put Philip Hamilton in his place. The only problem was that his place happened to be right next to her. She would have to learn to deal with his incessant talking and snarky comments until Mrs. Washington changed their seats again. She had no idea how she was going to do it.

Theo had expected problems pretty soon, but not less than ten minutes into Mrs. Washington’s lesson. Philip had leaned over toward her, clearly crossing the boundary between them, and was attempting to get Theo’s attention. Theo was having absolutely none of it, and was deliberately ignoring the highly annoying young man.

 _“Psst. Psst. Theo!_ Hey! Pay attention to me, goddamnit!” Philip whispered angrily. Instead of turning to look at him, Theo kept her eyes on her paper, taking notes, but she couldn’t continue ignoring him. It was getting tedious.

“What the fuck do you want?” She hissed. “I am trying to take notes. If this isn’t a life threatening emergency, then please leave me _alone_.”

Philip backed away from her. “Okay chill out, I just wanted to know if you had a pen.”

Theo slowly lifted her head to look at him “You wanted… a pen?”

Philip furrowed his brow, visibly confused as to why she was so upset. “Yeah, my pencil ran out of lead and I don’t have another one. Can I use one of your pens?” He asked quietly.

There was an almost immediate response from Theo. “No, you may not. Ask one of your buddies for one- oh wait, they’re on the other side of the room.” She replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. 

Philip leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Wow okay then. I guess I’ll suffer in silence.” When he thought his table partner wasn’t paying attention, he let another comment slip out under his breath.

_“Bitch.”_

Theo turned her head very slowly, and stared at Philip. She said nothing, as to avoid an obvious conflict, but the look in her eyes made Philip want to buy a plane ticket to somewhere very far away and never come back. On any other girl it would be arousing, but that look on Theo was utterly terrifying. Philip slid down in his seat.

Now, Philip had a few problems. He had friends all the way across the room, no pen, and a very angry female sitting less than two feet away from him. He had not thought this through at all.

* * * * *

Once the bell rang, Philip knew he was in for some serious shit. Will Mulligan clapped him on the shoulder on his way out of class. “I saw that look Theo gave you, bro. I’ll say nice things at your funeral.”

Philip laughed half-heartedly, but had to keep up his image. “Ha ha, Will, very funny. She’s too small to kill me. And she’s a major bitch. She wouldn’t even lend me a pen! What kind of person does that?” 

“Well,” Will said. “Apparently the same person who is stomping toward you and-”

“Philip Hamilton!” Theo shouted angrily. Philip whipped around to face her, fully aware of the small height difference. She quickly stormed over, stopping in front of him. “I heard you were talking shit. Do you need a refresher as to what happens to people who talk shit, or do your three detentions speak for themselves?” She crossed her arms and glared at Philip. He said nothing. “Either way, expect a post. And be warned, I’m not going easy on you this time.” She continued.

“Yes ma’am.” Philip replied. It was very obvious to Theo that he was completely disregarding her threat, and that he was making fun of her. She tried to not let it get on her nerves. “But don’t expect a response. I’m not fighting you again. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get to class.” He said, turning on his heel and leaving Theo fuming. She stomped off in the other direction quickly, not wanting to be late for class. 

“You’d better be careful man, she does not play around when someone says some problematic shit.” Will warned, openly very concerned. “Did you see what she said about that guy who insulted her dad? He didn’t come to school for three days after the post.” Despite being genuinely concerned for Philip’s mental state, Will didn’t want to be associated with anyone who was called out by Theodosia Burr. If you get called out by her, it means you’ve either done something to piss her off, or you’re incredibly problematic. There were only a select few people who visibly pissed off Theodosia Burr, and two of them were Hamiltons. 

Philip just laughed him off. “Will, relax. I’ve got this under control.” This was the truth. Philip did have it under control. He never hid anything from his peers, parents, or the internet for that matter. He would be just fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be in Connecticut until Thursday, so I won't be updating until after then!


	3. Chapter 3

@theoburrn - 5:04 pm  
**so i got called a bitch today. you wanna know why im a bitch? I wouldn't give someone a fucking pen. so sure, im a bitch. but at least im not a bitch ass coward. at least my father didn't put his frowned-upon mistakes out in the open, in a 95-page pamphlet, for everyone to read. at least my fucking father didn't pick fights with everyone. and even if he did, I wouldn't take after him. I wouldn't pick fights with everyone and anything on the great goddamn green earth. I wouldn't pride myself on being a player, even though im not. at least ive had more than one relationship from middle school that lasted, what, two weeks? tops? at least I wouldn't be a fucking coward. at least I wouldn't be so low as to try and continue on a new generation of a really fucking stupid political-turned-personal rivalry. and you know what? at least I'm sneaky. I'm not in the principal’s office enough to be his goddamn grandchild, thank you very much. at least I can throw a half-decent punch. Newsflash honey; words aren't gonna give anyone a black eye. they aren't gonna fucking teach people a lesson. so yeah, call me a bitch. But believe me, there are much worse things I could be.**

Philip most definitely did not have it under control. He was not fine.

He didn’t want to see the comments, but the fact that half of them had tagged him made it kind of inevitable. As he scrolled down, a few caught his eye.

gwashdelaf: #shreked

Frankie.laurens: wow @pipthepoet you should know better

w.mulligan: @pipthepoet i told you didnt i

eliza.jr: that was low but @pipthepoet you deserved it bro

angieham: i s2g i can hear him crying in his room lmao

aj.hamilton: what is this oh my god

elizaschuyler: @pipthepoet come downstairs right now what did you do

Looking back at the events of the day, if he could redo all of it, he wouldn’t have gone to school at all. The fight, that history class, and Theo would have been avoided completely. He would not have just gotten humiliated on social media. He wouldn’t feel obligated to apologize to Theo for a stupid little comment.

No. He would not apologize to Theo about some stupid comment. She blew this out of proportion. If she had just let it be, he wouldn't be getting ridiculed for everything he's ever done wrong. This is her fault. Philip was not going to lose all of his friends because of some stupid post. He would fight back. He was very skilled with words and rhymes, he could take Theo.

There was a small problem to his plan, however. If he lashed back at Theodosia Burr, he would get murdered by one of two people. Her father, who already didn’t like him, or Martha Jefferson, who will defend Theo with her dying breath. So maybe retaliation was out of the question. Now what? How was he supposed to defend his pride and his father’s name? A physical fight would cause too much controversy and was completely against Philip’s morals. 

Suddenly, a new thought came to mind. It was something his mother had told his father to do whenever another politician got on his nerves: “kill them with kindness”. That was the answer. Don’t fight Theo, don’t retaliate, just do something completely out of the ordinary and compliment her. That seemed like a good idea that _wouldn’t_ get him sent to a mental institute by everyone who he had ever met. Totally a great idea. Thanks, mom.

The more Philip thought about a peaceful solution, however, the more sense it made. He wouldn’t get in trouble for a physical fight and end up in Mr. Washington’s office again. He wouldn’t get yelled at for posting about her. It would be odd enough to leave Theo, and any spectators, speechless and surprised. It was still a retaliation, but it was peaceful and not illegal or insulting. Neither Martha nor Burr would hate him more than they usually do. He wouldn’t get in trouble with his mother or his aunts, but his dad might be a bit disappointed. This actually might work.

But, then again, what would he even say? _“Oh, hi Theo, thank you for embarrassing me on social media and insulting my father. You look very nice today.”_ It would be so weird for him to compliment someone he had hated ever he understood what a rivalry was. Even in his mind, imagining those words come out of his mouth seemed foreign and wrong. Imagining talking to Theo at all felt wrong. They were mortal enemies. They could barely be in a room without fighting, and that’s without talking to each other. What would she do? Slap him? Tell Washington? Maybe she would apologize or stop loathing him. Hating people gets exhausting after a while. Constantly thinking about how easy it would be to push them out of a window or thinking up ways to kill them. It would be easier for Philip and his father to stop getting in fights.

* * * * *

The next morning, Theo hunted down Philip. “Well?” she questioned. “Did you see my post last night?” Philip nodded but didn’t say anything, as he was desperately trying to keep his mouth shut. Theo was in his face now. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?” She asked. Philip panicked. He realized he only had three options. One, he could open his mouth and say something extremely rude, completely disregarding his plan. Two, he could keep his mouth shut and keep getting ridiculed. Three, he could follow his plan and compliment her. He couldn’t see any immediate cons to option three, so it seemed like his best plan. _Here goes nothing._

Philip looked down at Theo, smiled, and made a split second decision. “Your eyes look really nice today.”

Theo’s eyes went wide, her face went red, and she stepped away from Philip. She furrowed her eyebrows angrily. “Excuse me?” She replied. “So my eyes don’t look nice any other days? Just today? Okay then. Thanks, asshole.”

Philip groaned and rolled his eyes. He looked up to the ceiling, praying to whatever god existed that it would come down and smite Theodosia so he could be rid of her once and for all.“Are you kidding me?” He said softly. “I tried so hard to not insult you more than I already have. The one time I actually compliment you, and you turn it around to be another fucking insult. Are you trying to get yourself murdered?” Theo had crossed her arms now, and was smirking up at the older boy. Philip went red. “Oh. You were trying to get me angry. I get it now. That’s rude! Why would you do that?”

Theo clicked her tongue and shook her head. “Oh, you poor, naive, little baby. You are the only person that I enjoy getting worked up. It’s just so funny. Also, it’s because I despise you.” When she looked back up at Philip, he was fuming. Theo repressed the almost overwhelming urge to giggle. She got a large amount of satisfaction just seeing Philip visibly annoyed at her, but the fact that he was a Hamilton and was bound to actually say something in retaliation made everything better. The downside to this particular confrontation was the fact that he wasn’t _trying_ to retaliate. 

Philip, on the other hand, hated it when people were upset with him, which is why he got in so many fights. Some people just hated him for the fun of it. For example, George Eacker. Philip couldn’t remember how many times he had tried to fight Eacker. Thankfully, Philip’s friends kept him from embarrassing himself. Eacker was significantly older than him, after all. No one had ever tried to stop him from fighting Theo. This was probably because they knew he wouldn’t physically fight anyone he believed was weaker than him. This was also the reason he got beat up so much. He didn’t have a problem with Theo being mad at him as long as their fathers still hated each other. Plus, she wouldn’t beat him up, and vice versa. Philip realized he was still glaring at Theo. She glared back.

After an intense glaring contest, Ellie Laurens and Martha Jefferson dragged their respective friends away from each other and to their classes. The last thing Theo heard before turning the corner was Philip’s voice yelling, “this isn’t over!” Theo laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this ending was so shitty im so sorry 
> 
> i just wanted to get the chapter up :((((((((


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah! I'm so sorry about the super long wait! School really caught up with me, but it's over now, so I'll be able to get back so some sort of a schedule. Chapter 5 is already half written!

The unfortunate slander of Philip Hamilton didn’t have an affect on the plans of him and his friends. They would skip school every so often and go to the beach, or an amusement park, or just go on a road trip. This particular Thursday would be no different. Since it was October, they had minimal options. It was too cold to go to the beach, the amusement parks were closed, and they couldn’t take a road trip for the sole reason that it was very close to the annual school production, and Georges was the stage manager. So, they settled for a simple picnic, complete with bottles of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries. The only downside to this wonderful day off was their classes. Specifically the history class the four of them shared.

Georges was the first to mention this. “Hey guys, do we have test tomorrow or am I going _fou?_ ”

Ellie rolled her eyes. “Bucko, we know you speak fluent English, stop using French words for no reason. Jesus, maybe you should have been named Frances instead of me. But yeah, I think we do.”

Will popped a strawberry in his mouth. “Man, that’s just cruel. A test on a Friday. M-Wash knows we’ll be rowdy, why would she do that?”

Georges went wide-eyed. “Oh _merde_! That means the review day was today! We’ll be missing it, and she specifically told us to try and be in her class. Do any of you know if we can get the notes from anyone? Philip?”

Philip had been absentmindedly pulling handfuls of grass out of the ground when he heard his name. “What?” He said as his head jolted up. His friends were laughing at him. “What? Did I miss something? What are you laughing about?” The only answer he got was more guffawing. “Guys, come on, what?”

Ellie wiped an imaginary tear from her eye and sighed heavily. “Oh Philip, if only we could look into your mind to see who’s got you so preoccupied.” 

This statement made Philip go bright red. It wasn’t for an obvious reason, however. He wasn’t thinking of someone he liked, he was thinking of the complete opposite, and how much he hated her. Either way, he didn’t want anyone looking into his mind. They might get the wrong idea, as the things Philip thought about most were facial features and expressions of Theodosia Burr. Mostly her smug look and how much he wanted to smack it off of her. Or when she was incredibly angry. That gave Philip a sense of pride and accomplishment. Another voice pulled him out of his imagination.

“No one’s got Philip’s mind occupied, he’s thinking up another way to destroy Theodosia. Right, Philip?” Will said confidently. 

Philip nodded furiously. “Oh yeah. I can’t stand her. She can’t even take a compliment without then insulting me or making me sound like the bad guy.”

Ellie rolled her eyes. “Well, we were talking about the history review? Do you know where Georges could-” she was cut off by a sharp jab into her side by Georges’ elbow. 

“What Ellie _means_ to say is, who could we get the notes from? You guys are taking the test too.” Georges added.

Philip laughed and took out his phone. “Yeah, I might be able to get them from Martha Jefferson. But don’t worry, I’ve got you guys. I won’t let you guys fail, that’s what friends are for.” 

Georges breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you. I do not want to disappoint my parents. They would kill me.”

The four of them continued talking and laughing about their parents, and grades, and people they liked and didn’t like. When he was out with his three best friends in the whole world, Philip was genuinely happy. He didn’t have care in the world until his phone buzzed, signaling a text message.

**To Martha Jeffers: hey do u have the notes from history today? we took a day off**

**From Martha Jeffers: nah man i was out sick today**

**From Martha Jeffers: you could ask theo though she never misses anything**

A feeling of terror washed through Philip’s body.

Theo. As in Theodosia. Theodosia Burr. Philip would have to use the number he had specifically named “mortal enemy”. There was a reason he hadn’t texted that number in years. The last conversation he had with that number was a fight. In hindsight, the fight they had was about something very stupid and petty, but because they were supposed to hate each other, they did. The whole thing was because of some stupid disagreement between their fathers. Philip was not going to have a flashback to that night now. He didn’t want to cry in front of his friends. 

“Okay, I have a solution, but I don’t want to do it.” Philip blurted out. Will, Ellie, and Georges stared at him. “A solution to the notes dilemma, that is.” No one spoke. “Since no one else is talking, I’m going to go ahead and tell you. I asked Martha for the notes, but she was out sick today. She suggested I ask Theodosia for them.”

After about three seconds of silence, the other three teenagers burst out laughing. “She-she doesn’t actually expect you to ask her, does she?” Ellie wheezed. She wiped an imaginary tear from her eye.

Philip laughed weakly. “As much as I hate her, I might actually have to. We don’t really have a choice. You guys know she takes the best notes.” 

They hated to admit it, but Theo did take the best notes any of them had ever seen. The bullet points were short and to the point, but still covered everything. Ellie had borrowed them once, and was pleasantly surprised to get a ninety-three percent on that test. Her highest grade all year had been because of her best friend’s mortal enemy. When Philip got a seventy-five percent and asked her how she did so well, she rambled on for a full minute about how great Theodosia’s notes were before realizing that Philip’s face had contorted into his worst death glare. She then stopped talking. Georges borrowed them once and aced a history essay, even after being absent for basically the whole unit. Will borrowed them for a math quiz and got his first grade above a ninety all year.

“Okay man, well, good luck and forward them to us.” Will said. Ellie and Georges chimed in with ‘good luck’s too. 

* * * * *  
Philip put off texting Theo as far as humanly possible. It was 9:30 PM when he finally got up the nerve to try and text her.

**hey can i get the notes-**

**hi i know we havent talked that often but can you-**

**hey fuckhead send me-**

But finally, Philip settled on-

**To mortal enemy: hi its philip idk if youve deleted my number but can i have the notes from history? we skipped today and didnt realize there was a review.**

Now all there was to do was wait. After twenty minutes, Philip started to panic. What if she blocked him? He’d have to tell his friends that they’d have to fail. He couldn’t let them down. The stakes were too high. Wait a minute. What if she was ignoring him on purpose just to make him panic? She would do that. That’s how much she hated him. She had to hate him, right? She wouldn’t fight with him if she didn't hate him. Yeah. That sounded better.

A quiet ding pulled Philip’s mind out of its panic. He picked up his phone and saw a new text from Theo.

**From mortal enemy: Yeah sure i know who this is im not an idiot**

**From mortal enemy: Its not gonna be my fault if the four of you fail so dont hold me responsible**

**From mortal enemy: Wait shit my camera doesnt work can you stop by my house**

**To mortal enemy: sure now?**

**From mortal enemy: go ahead my dad’s working late**

Theo lived close enough that Philip could walk to her house. It was past 10, so no one would be up, as his dad was still at work. Grabbing his phone, he slowly opened the door to his bedroom, trying to avoid any sound. He crept down the stairs, aware of the creaky ones, and snuck his way toward the front door. He was almost out when he heard a voice call his name.

“Philip? What are you doing, honey?”

 _Shit shit shit shit shit_. “Uh, I couldn’t sleep, so I wanted to take a quick walk around the block. Is that okay?”  
Eliza glanced toward the clock hanging on the wall. “It’s nearly quarter past 10.” She sighed. “If you’re not back by, let’s say, 10:45, I’m calling the police. Okay?”

Philip nodded. “10:45. Got it. Thanks, Mom!” He grabbed a light jacket off the coat rack and was out of the house in seconds.


	5. Chapter 5

Philip had never noticed how nice nighttime was. The silence was comforting. Darkness wrapped around his body like a blanket, punctured by the fluorescent bulbs of porch lights or the soft, yellow hue of the streetlights. There was never a reason for him to be outside at night. He didn’t play sports, he wasn’t particularly interested in space, and he was normally ‘asleep’ anyway. He was so wrapped up in his surroundings that he almost forgot why he was outside in the first place. The barking of two dogs pulled him out f his own little world. He did that a lot nowadays, disappeared into his own mind. The dogs were accompanied by a familiar voice telling them to “shut up, people are sleeping”. Philip knocked on Theo’s front door, once again setting off the dog alarm. “It’s unlocked.” He heard Theo yell from inside.

Philip turned the doorknob and pushed on the door, expecting it to open. He had to throw himself against the door to get it to open, and when it did, he was almost tackled by two large dogs. “You’ve got- get off! Down! You’ve got some uh- ow- energetic dogs.” Philip said as he made his way to the couch where Theo was. He shrugged his jacket off onto the arm of the couch and plopped down.

Theo laughed. “Yeah. But look on the bright side! They like you!”

Philip looked at her with a horrified look on her face. “Bright side? _Like me?_ They tried to kill me! Is that your definition of liking something? Trying to kill it?”

Theo shrugged. “Maybe.” She replied. “Besides, you dying is not my biggest concern right now. I’m watching _10 Things I Hate About You._ I swear to Jesus, Heath Ledger is hot in every movie he does.” She sighed. Philip shook his head.

“He’s not that hot. I’m hotter than him.”

“Are you kidding? He has way better hair than you. Look!”

“I take offense to that.”

“Not my problem, asshat. He’s so sweet, look at that.”

“I hate you.”

“Aw, that’s cute. You think I care.”

Philip groaned. “Whatever. Can I just have the notes?” 

Theo never looked away from the television screen. “Go ahead, my bag’s on the table.”

There was a long, awkward moment of silence while Philip was going through her folders. He broke the silence. “Heath Ledger played the Joker. You think the Joker is hot?” He got a pillow thrown at his head and an ‘I hate you’. “Well now I know why it’s called a throw pillow.” He said, laughing as another pillow flew by his head.

Theo giggled and yawned. “I am going to kill you.”

Philip laughed. “Sure, but you laughed. That’s gotta count for something. Where are your notes?” 

She got up off the couch and walked over to the kitchen table, yanking her bag away from him. Rifling through her papers, she pulled out a sheet of paper completely covered in tiny writing. “What?” She asked, noticing the terrified look on his face. 

“You write so small.” He answered weakly.

Theo burst out laughing, and laughed until she was on the floor, tears leaking out of her eyes. Philip laughed at the sight of her. Pretty soon they were both lying on the kitchen floor, crying from laughing so hard. When their laughter had died down, the silence that followed wasn’t awkward. Surprisingly, neither of the two teenagers _wanted_ to say anything, for fear of losing the peace. It wasn’t very often that there was any peace between them. Normally, just being near each other got them worked up, but this was different. Something was off. Philip didn’t want to ask, but he thought he knew what it was. He also didn’t want to admit to himself that he was actually enjoying being around Theo, so it made more sense that way. The only possible way this would happen is if Philip’s hunch was right. “Theo?” He asked. She hummed in response. “You’re not okay, are you? Are you drunk? Or high?”

She sat up abruptly. She didn’t say anything, but the way she looked away gave Philip an uneasy feeling that he was right and she was angry. He decided to try and explain himself. “Theo, I just- we don’t really get along normally. You’re always so uptight, and you’re really chill right now, so I honestly am very concerned. What’s going on?” He waited patiently for any sign that she would respond, and when he didn’t see anything, he got up off the floor, grabbed his jacket and headed for the door, avoiding the dogs lying on the floor. 

He had his hand on the doorknob when Theo finally spoke. “No, I’m not drunk or high. I don’t really want to hate you. I just feel like I don’t have a choice.” She said, sniffling. “I want to be friends and get along, but we disagree on everything. That’s what’s wrong.” She paused, looking at the clock. “It’s past 10:30, leave and take my stupid notes with you.”

Philip turned back towards the door and stepped through into the moonlight. He started walking home, kicking rocks along the way. When he got to the yellow streetlights, he realized they looked sadder now, like someone had given them bad news and dimmed them for good. _That’s a stupid metaphor,_ he thought. _That wasn’t bad news. You hate her. Get a grip._ Philip’s reassurance didn’t do much for his thoughts except send them spiraling back down into paranoia. The best thing for him to do right now was to not think at all.

Glancing at his phone, Philip realized that his mother was going to call the police if he wasn’t home in five minutes. He ran as fast as he could through the streets of Upper Manhattan back to the Hamilton estate, avoiding the various holes and cracks in the pavement. The cool October night air blew on his face and made his eyes sting as he ran.His speed made him almost smash into the front door of the estate. Despite his adrenaline rush, he opened the door very slowly, trying not to make it creak.

Eliza looked at the clock on the wall. 10:44 and 50 seconds. “Welcome home. How was your walk?” She asked her son. 

Philip, who was bent over with his hands on his knees, panting, managed to breathe out a quick “fine”. Giving his mother a quick kiss on the cheek, Philip made his way upstairs and collapsed on his bed. He thought about what Theo had said. Did she mean it? Was she trying to make a fool out of him? It was too late to think about this. Looking at his phone one more time before nodding off, he saw he had a message from Theo. _I’ll read it in the morning,_ he thought. _It can’t be that important._ Within a few minutes, Philip was snoring loudly.

* * * * *

Theodosia lied on her bed, safely tucked under three pristine blankets. Despite her appearance, her mind was running wild with ridiculous possibilities. She knew Philip wouldn’t care what she said. She knew she should stop obsessing over it. She had just felt weirdly comfortable around him, and it got out of hand. He obviously still hated her. Theo had to hate him. If she even thought for a second that she was starting to not hate him- no, she didn’t want to think about that. It would be too awkward. Worst case scenario, she’d develop a crush on him, he’d find out, she’d have to move to the other side of the country and never see her friends again. “Yep,” she thought aloud. “That’s definitely the worst case scenario.” She decided to just text Philip and tell him that she was just caught up in the moment and to disregard anything she said. She added that it would be better for both of them to forget everything about that night except the notes. When she hit send, she immediately regretted it. She wanted to curl into a ball and die right there. 

This was ridiculous. _Just stop,_ she told her brain. _This is getting out of hand. You can handle a little anxiety. Just get some sleep. This will all be fine in the morning._ Theo closed her eyes and rolled over. She was asleep within minutes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the long wait!!!!!!! I'll try to get Chapter 6 up ASAP because I'll be busy for three weeks starting the 16th and ending the 6th.
> 
> If you have any questions about the future of this fic, direct them to my askbox on tumblr!!

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!!
> 
> find me on tumblr @hamilcries


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